TERRY VENABLES earned the plaudits from the London Press for inventing the famed ‘Christmas tree’ formation that his England team used so successfully at Euro 96.

Although, for the record, Venables’ team actually only won two matches out of five on their own Wembley turf.

They beat Scotland, thumped Holland 4-1 and drew with Switzerland, Spain and Germany.

As England manager, Venables was either a roaring hit or a myth ... depending upon which English newspaper you choose to read.

With regards to the Christmas tree, a system shaped with a lone striker at the point, it is a myth to say it was Venables’ invention of the 1990s.

Instead, as Swansea City fans will tell you, it is a formation they first saw under John Toshack at the Vetch back at the start of the 1980s.

Relevant that, because the very system Toshack used in taking the Swans to the top of the old First Division is being utilised again 26 years on as he bids to end Wales’ qualifying hoodoo which stretches back to 1958.

It was also the system Toshack adopted when his Real Madrid team won the Spanish League with a record points and goals tally which still stands in La Liga to this day.

Based on a goalkeeper, three banks of three and a lone striker at the point (hence the Christmas tree analogy), the system is the one Toshack has hit on as the most likely to succeed for Wales.

So, for Ante Rajkovic of the Swans and Oscar Ruggeri of Real Madrid, read Danny Gabbidon against the Czech Republic two weeks ago.

For Leighton James and Martin Vasquez, read Jason Koumas as the main playmaker on the left.

Our graphic mirrors the Wales XI which drew at the Millennium Stadium with the principal men who played under Toshack’s management at the Vetch and the Bernebeu.

A pretty significant change will soon have to be made, of course, with the international retirement of Ryan Giggs.

Clearly new #10m teen sensation Gareth Bale will come straight back into the equation.

Toshack’s options then appear twofold, come the second batch of Euro 2008 qualifiers and the World Cup 2010 campaign beyond that.

The first is to switch Koumas into Giggs’ central position, the one which used to be filled in Toshack’s old Swans and Madrid teams by Alan Curtis and Emile Butragueno respectively.

Wales could then simply slot Bale into a more advanced role on the left, something they are actively considering because they believe he is too valuable a player to play at the back.

The other option, of course, would be to leave Koumas where he is, withdraw Bellamy into the Giggs position, and slot in Freddy Eastwood as the lone striker.

Bellamy was too starved of support against the Czechs and is not really cut out to play the role of lone striker.

Eastwood could perhaps fill the position and, in turn, Wales could get dangerman Bellamy on the ball more often in deeper positions where he could run at the opposition, rather than have him surrounded by four defenders every time he receives possession with his back to goal.

Whatever, after tinkering with different formations with Wales, it does appear Toshack has set out his future stall on the Christmas tree.

Whether Wales can play it as well as the Swans and Real Madrid, of course, only time will tell.

When the Swans first employed the system, beating the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal in doing so, the sweeper system was unique to British football at the time and it caught out even the best opposition.

In Latchford, they had the ideal man to play the lone role at the top of the so-called Christmas tree. Big and bustling, he could hold up the ball, score goals, win headers, offer a physical presence and link the play.

With the class and skill of Robbie James, Alan Curtis and Leighton James floating behind Latchford, the Swans created goal-scoring chances galore.

With Real Madrid, Mexican legend Hugo Sanchez was able to play the lone striker’s role to great success because the Spaniards were so dominant in every game, they at times probably had 10 players up front!

With Ruggeri, Hierro and Sanchis as a back three, supplemented by the great Bernd Schuster as holding midfield player and Chendo and Gordillo as mobile wing backs, Real could afford to just go for it ... knowing they would not be caught out defensively.

The result was a record 107 goals in the title-winning season and a whole bagful nabbed by Sanchez.

With Wales, Toshack obviously doesn’t have that luxury of piling men forward.

For starters, we’re not a dominant force at international level in the way that Real were in La Liga and even the Swans were in the old First Division.

Well though Carl Robinson has bought into Toshack’s ideology as his holding midfield player, and he has done it better than most, he is no Schuster.

Or even John Mahoney, for that matter.

James Collins has done superbly for Wales at times, but Hierro he is not.

And while Lewin Nyatanga offers great promise, and was superb against the Czechs, he lacks the experience of Spanish hard man Manuel Sanchis or battle-hardened Nigel Stevenson.

Toshack has used that old eiderdown analogy for a year or so. Pull the blanket up too far and your feet get cold. Cover the feet and your nose gets cold.

Push too many men forward with Wales and the young defence gets exposed. Defend too deeply and in numbers, and the front players get outnumbered.

It really is a chicken and the egg situation.

Even with Giggs gone, Wales’ real strength is with their more offensive-orientated players ... Davies, Koumas, Bellamy and Eastwood.

Just as the strength of the Swans was with the forward quartet of Robbie and Leighton James, Curtis and Latchford.

And the strength of Real was with Michel, Butragueno, Vasquez and Hugo Sanchez.

But none of those quartets could have worked without the solid, organisational base Toshack insisted upon behind them.

It has to be like that with Wales, too, although equating that with scoring more goals in the competitive games that matter is the manager’s biggest task from this point on.